Page 171 of Rose and Shadows
Adrenaline shot down my spine. “No. Then… what about the hybrids in there?”
He grimaced and looked away.
As he stepped forward and swept the rest of the distance to the entrance to the pocket dimension, my dad gave my shoulder a comforting and steadying squeeze.
“We focus on battle. The rest comes later. Upset and grief come later, my son.”
I swallowed hard and gave a nod.
And then he signaled to his twenty agents of The Shadowed, calling them in from their fanned out state. Within split-seconds they were flanking us as we stood just a foot back from Sylas, while he called forth Ketheron’s magic. It was a literal key, a glimmering golden ornate thing that Ketheron had fashioned into that shape very aptly.
Sylas held it out toward the concealed entrance and made a turning motion.
Ketheron’s gold power sparked, then a translucent film materialized into being, before a gap formed, creating a makeshift door.
With Sylas and my dad leading the way, we all passed through.
The peaceful trickling sound of running water was the first thing I took note of, and I looked to see a shallow river stretched out before us in a curving, kind of jagged line. Stepping stones formed a path to the other side, up the bank where the mansion was located.
And what a fucking mansion it was. Yeah, it could definitely hold five hundred beings.
The towers stretched high into the night sky, all sturdy stone and high arches. It was lit by magical fire from within—green of Ryker’s magic and silver of either Ariana’s or Cornelius’.
Tiny lights in the form of glowing orbs floated in the grass giving faint but sufficient illumination for any beings who weren’t vampire or shifter.
Through it all, as I took everything in rapid-fire, just like I saw my dad and The Shadowed doing, while Sylas was narrowing his eyes through the dark night, focusing on the surrounding forest, the fucking eeriness stood out the most.
This was supposed to be a place of sanctuary.
My dad had his magic-wielders force open the mansion doors and windows with coordinated flicks of their magic. They couldn’t get across the threshold, though. Not without being invited. Or not without having Celestial power that could overcome the threshold protection in place against all beings.
His voice boomed across the river and the hundred foot distance between us and the mansion, calling the protected hybrids forward.
Moments passed, but there was no movement.
My gut twisted.
Had Morien—fuck,had he massacred them all?
Arriving on the scene at that CRS facility after he’d murdered fifty seeking sanctuary there had been horrific enough. But this? This many? And coming at a safe haven once again too? It was beyond sick and twisted.
“I can’t hear anything beyond the stream. Not even the whisper of the wind through the trees,” my dad told me. “Can you?” he asked, knowing I had both my vampire and my wolf in play to draw from.
I listened carefully, straining. “No. Shit.”
The magic-wielders choked then, and Sylas grunted, just before a multicolored lightshow lit up the area—the sudden surge of power that had caused those reactions.
And then I saw something.
And heard some growling, groaning, and… struggling.
I was able to zone in on it in the next second.
No.It couldn’t be. He hadn’t… he hadn’t done it.
Yet, it became undeniable in the next few moments as hundreds of beings emerged from around either side of the mansion, dragging their bodies along, many skewed at awkward angles, limbs not working properly. Unfocused eyes. All of them moving together under a thrall. Rot hadn’t properly set in yet, but the start of the stench reached me, making me gag. There was no flesh peeling from their bodies, but therewasa shitload of blood and dirt staining their clothes.
I’d learned about this from my studies at Wraeven Academy, and in more detail from Sylas.
